Beginning Storytelling and Character Study: Why Be a Goop? (Flexible Schedule)

Students will learn the basics of story structure, character growth, and strong sentence writing, while creating naughty characters and having them learn from their mistakes and bad behavior. 
•  Grammar including: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions.
•  Creative writing techniques: 5 senses, show, don't tell, figurative language
•  poetry
•  Beginning, Middle, and End 
•  Character, Setting, Problem, and Resolution. 
•  Actions and consequences
•  Moral and message of stories

I'm a published fiction and nonfiction author, former homeschool mom of four, and have taught and tutored all ages for close to 20 years. I developed these creative writing and storytelling techniques when I started teaching an elective writing course at my kids' school over 10 years ago. This curriculum has developed over time and can be adapted for children of all ages to be successful in storytelling. I'm the author of "Release the Novel in You" workbook: The go-to fiction book for teen authors, and I teach advanced novel writing and story telling as well as other writing and elective classes on Outschool.

What parents are saying:

Gina is a phenomenal writing teacher! We have loved working with her. We have a range of ages and she is great at adapting to their ages and learning styles. She's very patient and good at helping them focus. My kids have learned so much and been stretched and challenged in the area of writing. I highly recommend her to anyone looking to advance in any area of writing! - Bethany mother of K, 1, 3, 4 tutored students.

Learners should attempt to finish each lesson before staring the next one as each lesson builds on one another. However, if a student is not sure about a certain element in their story, it is okay to move forward. 

Learners are assessed as they submit their homework. A general evaluation will be given on the lesson assignments. 
This class is designed to foster a love of storytelling, and while good writing and sentences will be addressed, that is not the emphasis. For strong writing techniques, see my "PAINT with your Words" and "Perfectly Powerful Paragraph" classes. If you are wanting a more in depth writing evaluation, I suggest scheduling a 1:1 session. 

No live meetings, and an estimated 0 - 1 hours per week outside of class.

Optional: "Why be a Goop?" (public domain) online will be helpful during the first few lessons, but not necessary. No account is needed to access this free site which houses public domain works. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433068558208 (See parental guidance for more information.) 

"The Goops books, originally published between 1900 and 1950, were created by the artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist Gelett Burgess." They were used to teach good manners to children. "The characters debuted, conceptually, in the illustrations of Burgess' publication The Lark, in the late 19th century. The Goops also appeared in panels in the popular monthly children's publication St. Nicholas, as early as 1898. The Goops series is among his most famous works."